Agenda Text
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Requesting approval of the City reprecincting based on the 2020 Federal Census results, after split precinct mitigation.
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Official Text
To the Honorable City Council:
I respectfully request that your Honorable City Council consider and approve the updated, proposed Ward and Precinct boundaries for the city of Somerville based on the 2020 Federal Census Results.
As per Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 54 section 1 (city wards), section 2 (city precincts), each city and town is required to establish Ward and Precinct lines every ten years, following the Federal Census.
As you know, the Council already approved our original, proposed Ward and Precinct boundaries on November 9, 2021. However, due to the changes to the reprecincting process this year, after the City was already engaged in our local reprecincting process as advised by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office, the State adopted House district lines that split eight Somerville precincts, creating sixteen subprecincts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office reached out to the City after our Ward and Precinct boundaries were approved by the State's Local Election Districts Review Commission ("LEDRC") to encourage us to review our map for potential opportunities to mitigate the split precincts, since split precincts cause administrative burdens and may cause voter confusion. With the assistance of their team, we have eliminated four split precincts in our new map.
Please find attached the updated verbal description and map of the proposed Ward and Precinct boundaries. This map differs from the map you approved November 9 in the following ways:
• Two blocks swapped between Wards 4 and 5 along Tennyson and Sycamore (this reverts these blocks to their existing Ward condition set by the 2010 map).
• One block switched from Ward 3 to Ward 4 at the intersection of Medford Street and School Street (also reverts to existing condition set in 2010).
• One zero-population block in the McGrath Highway right of way switched from Ward 3 to Ward 1.
• Two blocks switched from Ward 4-1 to Ward 1-4 along Walnut Street (reverting to existing Ward condition).
• One block switched from Ward 1-4 to Ward 4-2 along Gilman Street.
• Precinct lines shifted within Ward 4.
Revised maps must be approved locally and by the LEDRC by December 15, 2021.
My staff will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Respectfully,
Joseph A. Curtatone, Mayor